Malibu X13 Review (Part 2 - in the water)

Having arranged a short spinning session with Dave and Adey over Brighton Marina, we met up early in the morning for what appeared to be excellent testing conditions. Dave had just purchased his brand new drifter so both of us were looking forward to having a good paddle with our new toy.
Once all kayaks were setup, we made the short trip to the edge of the water, looked at the surf and wondered how our new toys were going to handles it.


Getting into the seat and ready to paddle whilst the waves are crashing onto the kayak is never easy, but after a couple of strokes it was a relief to see that the x13 was going through the surf with ease, making the launch an easy if not pleasurable experience. The X13 was not riding the waves as such but was slicing through them with such a convincing assurance that I was almost disapointed to be out of the surf so soon. OK, at some point I felt my legs were under water for a little while and the bottom of my pfd was definitely wet, but the important part is that the kayak felt very stable during this eventful launch.

Having survived the initial launch I quickly checked how much water was in the footwell and was pleasantly surprise to see that the scupper holes were doing a very good job, leaving about 1/4 inch of water and a dry seat. Later on while fishing, I noticed that very little water was in the footwell, as expected really.

The marina was still about half a mile away and it was time to see how she would handle herself in these choppy conditions. First few strokes and I was away . . . she took off quickly and required only regular light to moderate strokes to keep her at a steady pace. Since I didn't have a rudder, I had to correct the steering every now and then but no more than with any other kayaks. Although it is impossible to measure how fast a kayak is without a gps unit, the X13 felt as if she was enjoying being on the water, paddling with her was a pleasure and I felt more confident than ever about covering greater distances.

Having regularly paddled one of the most stable fishing kayak on the market today, my expectations were high. After all, I considered the X13 to be the little sister of the X-Factor and therefore it's comfort and stability should be at least at the same level. During the session I paddled many 1-4 feet waves through various angles, and every time the X13 rode them with ease and confidence. However, I did not test the X13 through rough seas and could not assess it's true secondary stability.

As we arrived in our fishing area, I opened the centre hatch and . .  discovered that the hull had taken on a fair bit of water, about a gallon to be precise. At first, I wondered how could so much water have got inside and set out to investigate as soon as I was back ashore. In the mean time, I started fishing.

Although it is a little too close to the seat, the centre hatch provided easy access to the gear stored inside. It is large, easy to open and also acts as a work surface where a chopping board can be used for instance.

As previously mentioned, the 2 front rod holders are too far from the seat to be of any use and the two behind the seat are ideal for transporting the rods but not suited whilst fishing, which is probably why Malibu came up with the X wing.

I didn't have a chance to really test the usefulness of the front well or the fish well as Malibu calls it, but I did try it with and without a bung.
Whilst on the move, I plugged the front well and found that it fills up with water if the sea is anything but calm. On the way back to the shore, I took the bung out and found the paddling easier. My opinion at this stage is not to bung the fish well, I guess it was designed to contain 2-3 inches of water.

As it was time to stop fishing so, Dave, Adey and I paddled our way back to the shore. Once there, Dave and Adey had a go on the X13 and found that although the X13 tracks well we all found that turning the kayak took a fair amount of effort.

After a few short paddles through the surf,  we all found that far too much water was going inside the hull so we decided to inspect the entire kayak and came to conclusion that the centre hatch was probably the cause of the problem, so we all packed up and I came back home to carry further tests.
Once home, I turned on the hose and watered the centre hatch generously. As expected, the centre hatch was letting water inside the hull so I consulted with Steve, the manager of brighton canoe who kindly agreed to let me try another demo X13 and, if the problem re-occurred, identify the leaking areas and apply some sillicone rubber sealant as a temporary measure.

Since I was on holiday, I took the opportunity to go and test if my repairs had made any difference. On sunday morning, the sea was very calm so I decided to take the X13 out to one of my favourite fishing spot, which is about 2 miles out. Luckily, the nearest beach to launch is about 1/2 mile walk from my house so I got the c-tug out and decided to trail the x13 right onto the beach. It is a light kayak and trailing her wasn't bad at all.

As expected the sea was flat and reaching the spot with a fast kayak that tracks well was a pleasure. Having got there, the first thing I did was checking the hull via the centre hatch, which was dry. After a minutes, I brought my first fish and decided to test the usefullness of the fish well, so I opened it and discovered that it was filled with a few inches of water as expected. Having gone through the bung experience earlier on, I decided not to plug the fish well.

Fishing on the X13 was great, the kayak felt very stable and the foot well was dry . As mentioned earlier, the centre hatch is slightly too close to the seat but not enough to be an hindrance. The fish well kept my fish alive during the session and the water inside never raised more than a few inches. As far as fishability is concerned, this kayak was clearly designed for fisherman.

After a good couple of hours, I checked the hull again and was surprised to see that about 2 litres of water had once again, creeped into the hull so I packed up and headed for the shore. The journey back seemed faster than the way in, no doubt this kayak was fast enough.

Soon after landing I emptied the hull of about 3 litres of water and yet I was convinced that the leak hadn't come from the centre hatch, it was time to go back home and try further tests.

At home, I left the kayak on the c-tug and filled her up with enough water to check for leaks around the bow then around the stern. I then discovered that the bow and stern handles were letting on a bit too much water for my liking. As before, I applied a generous portion of sillicone sealant.

This was now the third test, and appart from the leak issues, I was getting to like the X13 very much. After having applied copious amount of sillicone sealant, I was ready to give it another try. Good thing too, because on that morning the wind was up to 12 mph and the sea was slighltly more than moderate.

On that morning, Mike and I decided to fish further out whilst Adey, Dave and Andrew preferred to try for a big bass closer to the shore. Soon after reaching the spot, the wind suddenly picked up and the sea got rougher so we decided to play it safe and headed straight back to the shore. Needless to say that the paddling was tough, but we eventually managed to join the rest of the group, who were also experiencing a rougher sea.

Since then, I've had numerous discussions with Steve and Chris from Canoe-shops, who I must admit, were extremely helpful. It is clear now that most if not all the rivets were fitted incorrectly, which would explain the abnormal amount of water inside the hull.

Summary.

Conclusion
The X13 is a cracking kayak and I would definitely recommend it to a fisherman looking for a kayak that is stable, fast and provide plenty of useful storage.

Notes from Malibu regarding the front well, in response to my email.
Q: If the front hatch is completely filled with water, is it likely to sink?
A: The front hatch is sold as a fishwell and it should never have more then a couple inches of water. If the user would like to use the Gator hatch for the child he will need to plug the Fishwell drain hole. When the plug is used it will add a lot of extra flotation. If the tank fills? I would assume one will need to bail it. If they choose to keep the drain open the fishwell sould never be full, if they plug it and are in seas they need to apply a weather rubber seal to the underside of the seat hatch lid. Once the seat is applied there should be no reason to have water get in.

Q: While filled half way with water, is it still possible to carry someone. I recommend to plug this well when transporting a passenger for sure! It was not designed to keep it open with a persons weight in the seat?.
A: providing that both the kayaker and the passenger do not exceed the maximum weight. Always use plug in front well if you use the seat option!

Special Thanks.
A big great Thank You to Chris from Cornwall Canoe as well as Steve and Luke from Brighton Canoe for being so devoted in helping me testing the X13.

Pictures that didn't make it in the review:
space available in the centre hatch , and a bit more sealant in the centre hatch, centre hatch opened, on the beach, and again, view of the Fish Well, so how stable is this X13 then . .
, time to test the re-entry,